Does Gender Affect the Relationship Between Anxiety Sensitivity and Social Anxiety?

Abstract

Although there are studies on the effects of gender and time on social anxiety and anxiety sensitivity, there is no consensus on how these variables moderate the relationship between the two. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of the last year of medical school on social anxiety and to determine the predictors of social anxiety, focusing mainly on gender and anxiety sensitivity. The study was conducted at two time points. Demographic Information Questionnaire, Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale and Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) were given to medical school students at Time 1 (n=153): beginning of 6th year of medical school; and at Time 2 (n=130): end of the 6th year. Male gender predicted social anxiety at Time 1 but not at Time 2. Maternal education negatively predicted social anxiety in males; no prediction was observed for females. Psychiatric illness in the family and ASI scores predicted social anxiety. The total scores of social anxiety and anxiety sensitivity did not change over a course of 10 months. ASI subscale scores were not uniform in predicting social anxiety. Our results have confirmed the strong relationship between anxiety sensitivity and social anxiety. Higher maternal education appeared to be a protective factor against social anxiety among males but not among females. It is apparent that a whole educational year of internship does not lead to a significant reduction in social anxiety. We also showed that the physical sensations scale of ASI is sufficient to explain the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and social anxiety.